"How's your dad doing?" Jon said.

"He's fine. It was just a minor cut. Doctor's will be releasing him soon. What happened with you and Max?" Adriana said.

"I put him through processing and put him in the interrogation room at the station. I'll let you guys in so you can talk to him for a while. If you want to talk to him, he's there. But I'm putting him in jail."

Adriana sighed.

"I hope this teaches him a lesson."

Jon drove Bob home before he took Mrs. Germanotta and Adriana to the police station. Jon didn't want J.J. to come along but J.J. wanted to see his uncle.

They went to the interrogation room when they got to the police station.

"Uncle Max!" J.J. said as he entered the room.

Adriana and her mother sat down while Jon leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Hey," Max said, giving his nephew a hug. "How's it going?"

"Good. Why are you here?"

"I did a very bad thing," Max said.

"What did you do, Uncle Max?" J.J. said.

"I hurt your grandpa," Max said.

"Why?" J.J. asked.

"Because I was very mean. Don't ever grow up to be like me, alright?" Max said. "Don't ever do bad things."

"I won't, Uncle Max. I promise," J.J. said.

J.J. turned around and was about to go to Adriana when Max yanked him up and placed his hands on J.J.'s head. Max was about to break J.J.'s neck.

"Let me out of here!" Max yelled at Jon.

"Mommy! Daddy! Grandma!" J.J. yelped.

"Max, let him go!" Adriana said.

Jon had to reason with Max quick before something happened to J.J.

"Put J.J. down, Max. He has nothing to do with this. This is just between me and you, okay? Put him down," Jon said.

"No!" Max said.

"Max, look. I'll let you off the hook. Just please, put J.J. down," Jon said.

Adriana's heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode.

"Max, don't do this please," she said.

"Tell your husband to let me go free. I didn't do anything wrong. Bob was being mean to me. So I stabbed him is all. But I was just trying to protect myself. Let me go," Max said.

"Put your nephew down and you can go," Jon said.

Max began moving towards the door with J.J. still in his arms.

"Just let me go," Max said.

He reached the door and slowly set J.J. down on his feet. J.J. ran to his mother and started to cry.

"Wait," Jon said to Max. "Adriana, take mom and J.J. out of the station and just wait for me outside. Go now."

Adriana took her son and mother out of the room.

Max was about to leave right with them and slip by but he wanted to see what Jon wanted to say to him.

"What do you want?" Max said.

"I know you don't want to go to jail. But you have to go. It's either jail or you leaving this earth," Jon said. "Take your pick."

Max looked at Jon.

"I'm not going to jail."

Max opened the door and ran off.

Once again, Jon found himself chasing Max. Jon tackled him down and handcuffed him.

"You're going to jail, you piece of shit," Jon growled into Max's ear. "You don't put your hands on my son. I don't care if he IS your nephew. That's my son you fucker. Now get up!"

Max was sentenced to two years in jail two days later.

It pained Jon to see Adriana hurting.

The simple fact that Max was about to snap J.J.'s neck still haunted her. Her own brother. Her own flesh and blood threatened to hurt her son. His own nephew. And on top of that, Jon had to put him in jail. All three of them were tight when they were younger. But that was in the past.

Jon came home with J.J. from the store to find Adriana making dinner.

"Go play in your room for a little while. I'll come get you when dinner's ready," Jon told J.J.

Jon watched as J.J. disappeared down the hallway and went to check on Adriana.

"How are you holding up?" Jon asked Adriana.

"Fine," she said.

"You don't seem fine," Jon said. "If there's anything you need to talk to me about, you can say it, Adriana."

"It's nothing, Jonathan. Just leave it alone," Adriana said.

"Adriana," Jon said.

Adriana was cutting tomatoes and stopped. She laid the knife down on the cutting board.

"I still can't believe Max did that," Adriana said, shaking her head.

She turned to look at Jon.

"I wasn't a good sister," she said.

"Adriana, stop," Jon said. "You were a great sister."

Jon hugged Adriana. She started weeping.

Flashback:

"You're going into the Army?" Max asked Jon.

Jon had taken him to get some ice cream.

"Yeah."

"Have you told Adriana and Mom yet?"

"No. I'm sort of afraid to tell them."

"Once you get the courage to, you need to tell them soon."

"I will."

"You know, I've looked up to you a lot. You've been the brother I never had. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Adriana, but she loves girly things. You love wrestling and stuff. Which is cool!"

Jon chuckled.

"She doesn't like all things girly."

"Sure seems that way to me. Girly songs and everything. Songs for girls. Painting nails. All that girly stuff she likes. But what's really cool is how you and her are always together. Thanks for making my sister happy."

"I saw her getting bullied on the playground and stepped into save her. I hated seeing her cry. I still do. But hey, we are only human. Please take care of your sister while I'm away. Comfort her, tell her everything's going to be okay. Spend some time with her. And your mom too. They'll be upset, I just know it. But please, take care of them. Alright? When I get back, I'll buy you all the ice cream in the world."

"Sweet! I will do as you ask of me, Jon. You can count on me!"

Present:

"He wouldn't be in jail now if you weren't being so damn mean him," Adriana said.

She had quite a few glasses of wine after dinner. Jon was trying to get Adriana to bed but she was fighting back.

"Adriana, you're drunk. Go lay down."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

She had the bottle of wine in her hand and chugged some down.

"Adriana, stop."

Jon approached her and took the bottle away from her.

"Give it back, Jon!"

"No."

Jon dumped the rest of the bottle out in the sink.

"You asshole!"

Adriana went up to Jon and was about to smack him but Jon grabbed her wrist.

"You. Need. To. Stop. NOW!"

Adriana yanked her wrist away from Jon's grasp.

Jon shook his head at his wife.

"Adriana, I told you that if Max kept acting up I'd put him in jail. I told you that countless times."

"You didn't have to act like a jerk towards him!"

"I didn't act like a jerk towards him. I was nothing but nice to your brother but I did lay down the law. And he decided to keep acting stupid. He stabbed your father! Why do you continue to defend your brother?"

"I don't want anything to happen to him."

"Let's hope and pray nothing does happen to him. Hopefully he learns a lesson from this."

"I want him out. Put him on probation or whatever. I just want him out of jail. I can't take it."

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Adriana, I cannot simply get Max out of jail. He has to serve two years AND have good behavior. IF he can manage that."

Adriana stared at Jon as if he said something in a foreign language.

"You son of a bitch."

"Call me all the names you want, I don't care. What's done is done. I did this for his own good. Or did you want him six feet under dirt? Take your pick."

"I don't want my brother in jail OR dead. I want him home!"

"He can't be home, Adriana! He needs help! But he didn't want help so I can to lock him up!"

"I can't stand to even look at you right now! You and your fucking police procedure shit is getting on my goddamn nerves! Just because you have a fucking badge doesn't mean you have to lock up everybody! Move out of my way!"

Adriana pushed past Jon and walked away from him. Jon followed her.

Adriana went into the room and yanked the pillows off of Jon's side of the bed.

"You're sleeping on the fucking couch tonight."

She threw the pillows at him.

Jon caught them and threw them back on the bed.

"I'm not sleeping on the couch."

"Yes you are."

"No. I'm not. You're drunk, acting crazy, and you're blowing this shit out of proportion."

"I'm not blowing anything out of proportion!"

"Stop yelling. You'll wake up J.J."

"I can kept yelling and screaming as I please towards you!"

"Adriana! Shut up!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!"

Adriana walked up to Jon and hit him in the face.

"I hate you! Get the fuck out! I don't fucking need you giving me any more fucking grief! Leave and don't come back! I wish I never let you into my home. I should've just let your whore mother and her nasty ass boyfriends fuck you up. To think I actually love you. To think you're the same person I fell in love with all those years ago. All those nights we spent together. I should've spent it with someone else. Because I'm done with you. I went through so much with you. From you going into the military, to this. But I can't do this anymore, Jonathan. I can't. Max being in jail is too much for me to handle. And to think it was you who put them in there. And you stand there, not giving a shit. Too damn busy trying to be the baddest police officer on the face of the universe. Fuck that. And fuck you too. You're not going to keep putting me through shit. Maybe that's why your real dad left you. Because you were being a fucking nuissance. Always creating trouble. I'm surprised your mom even decided to put up with you."

Jonathan simply looked at Adriana and didn't say anything.

He honestly couldn't say anything.

Adriana's words stung hard. Jonathan felt as if hundreds of people were stabbing him with sharp knives.

Jonathan looked at his left hand and saw his wedding ring.

It was supposed to be a symbol of their love.

But there was no love here tonight.

Adriana made that crystal clear.

Maybe it was the booze talking. Maybe this was really how she felt deep down on the inside.

Maybe she just pretended everything was fine to keep Jonathan happy.

Maybe she really was tired of going through things with Jon.

Everything that was eating her on the inside finally came out.

Jonathan was about to leave when Adriana spoke up again.

"I want a divorce."

Jonathan felt as if Adriana ripped out his heart.

"Divorce?" he repeated.

"Yes," Adriana said. "Divorce."

Jonathan didn't know what to do but simply stare.

"Mommy...Daddy...what do you guys mean when you say divorce?" J.J. asked.

Jonathan turned around and saw J.J. standing in the doorway on the verge for crying.

It hurt Adriana to see their son about to cry.

It pained Jonathan even more.

"J.J., go put on your shoes. I'm taking you to your grandmother's house," Jon said.

"You're not taking my son anywhere," Adriana said.

"He's my son, too," Jonathan said.

Jonathan took J.J. to his room and made sure he put on his shoes. Adriana walked in hotter than a skillet on a stove.

"You are not taking him anywhere!"

Jonathan ignored Adriana and grabbed J.J.'s jacket from his closet.

As Jonathan turned around, Adriana smacked him across the face again.

"I said you're not taking him anywhere!"

It took everything in Jon not to lash out at Adriana.

"Mommy, don't hit Daddy," J.J. said.

"I'm through with your father," Adriana said.

"Don't tell him that," Jonathan said.

"IT'S THE FUCKING TRUTH! GET OUT OF HERE!"

Adriana then slapped Jon in the face again.

Jon flipped and threw down J.J.'s jacket.

Jon grabbed Adriana by her arms and pushed her against the wall.

Author's Note: This isn't good.