Visiting Hours

A.N: Stephen King owns the Stand By Me Characters.

Tie in to Hometown Girl. Been a while since I've written a multi chapter story.

Chapter One

Blood is thicker than water.

Sure, I'd heard the saying a thousand times but it had never made much sense to me. Blood's thicker than water? Blood meant my Dad's iron fist in my face for little to no reason, blood meant his whiskey fuelled breath next to me at the table and the whipping sound that his belt made when he yanked it out of his pants. Water meant my Cobra brothers who would back me up in any trouble I landed myself in, the guys I spent every waking minute with.

"Chambers. Your lawyer brother is here."

I sat up in my bunk as the guard leaned inside, enjoying the envious look of my cellmate, Smithy, who never got any visitors.

"Yes sir," I said, getting to my feet.

I knew what Old Smithy was jealous of. A brother who was a lawyer was the stuff of dreams in this place. If not for the possibility of him bailing you out, just for the clout of being able to say he was your brother. The funny thing is, me and Chris were never close until I got locked up. Like I said, the Cobra's were my family growing up, and they liked Chris as little as he liked them.

When I used to think about the day that my best friend Ace put a knife to Chris' throat, I had thought it was justified. I mean, those little punks had been listening to Charlie and Billy under the porch- that was how they found the Brower kid- and they wouldn't walk away. Of course Ace couldn't let that slide.

And the whole Nina Willis thing? She had been Ace's girl first, so when Chris had lost her, I hadn't had much sympathy for him. Everyone in town knew the story. How Nina Willis had gone from Ace to Chris. She had been on a break from Chris when she got pregnant with Ace's kid. Except she didn't know she was pregnant until after her and Chris made it up. She chose to stay with Ace and have the baby, and my baby brother took it hard.

"Can you keep it down?" Saint Christopher had his head in a book as usual as I tried to get a better look at my reflection in the broken mirror in our shared bedroom. I had the radio on as I winked at myself winningly.

"It's 7 o clock, old man. You got all night to study."

"Becky and Lily will be inside then," he complained. "I won't get a minute of peace."

It was a real pain in the arse having to share the room with my kid brothers and sisters. Luckily, Sally Jane had an empty house tonight.

Chris seemed to give up on his book.

"Where are you going anyhow? You still seeing Emily Peters?"

"Naww…" I don't know how he remembered her last name. I never would have.

"Sally Jane's lucky night tonight. Her and Mary Sue are fighting to be my date to Ace's wedding."

I caught his strained expression even in the cracked dirty mirror. He looked like he'd seen a ghost; his face pale and shaken.

"Aw come on, Chris, you knew she was pregnant. You must have figured he'd marry her?"

He tried to say something but it didn't come out as anything understandable. I didn't get it really. About him or Ace. Sure Nina Willis was hot, but she was just another chick, not worth all this shit.

"Hey Mary Sue's got a younger sister. Maybe I could set you up?"

Chris got up from the bed and walked out without a word.

"Ungrateful little shit," I had muttered to myself."

Chambers. Table number 8." Guard Holden called. I gave him a nod and strolled down to table eight. As I passed table number four, I made sure to give Buddy Tate a hard look. We had gotten into it more than once in the past few months and I knew it wouldn't be long until our next run in.

I was momentarily distracted from Tate when I saw my little brother. Wearing a pressed suit with his hair cut short, I bet he was even taller than me now, the little shit. His deep Californian tan was out of sorts in a place where sunlight was rationed. I'd always hated him for that- my Mom's blond hair and my old man's tanned skin. I got it the other way round- Dad's dark hair and Mom's pale skin.

"Christopher." I grinned at him. "What's with the get up? You trying to impress me?"

"I ever tell you you're a dumb ass?" It was the first thing he said to me when I sat down opposite him.

"Hey, the public defender never spoke to me that way."

"The public defender was getting paid. And he didn't do much of a job by the looks of things."

To be fair to him, the PD hadn't had much of a chance. Me and Charlie Hogan had been caught redhanded. Judge gave us ten years like it was nothing. All I could hear was my Ma crying behind me. Of course, I didn't need to turn around to know the old man hadn't showed.

"Look, I'll be straight with you, Richie. It's not good news. I got someone in my office to review your case. The facts speak for themselves and the judge could have gone harder on you. You may have got ten years but you're up for parole in five. You just have to be a model prisoner until then."

I lost the end of what he was saying because Buddy Tate was giving me the evil eye from the other side of the room.

"This your boyfriend?" Buddy called over, real friendly like, over his old lady's head.

"No, he's come to have a turn at your Ma after me," I called back.

Buddy started to mutter and swear, his fists clenched, but one of the guards picked up on the conversation and went closer to him to say something in his ear. Buddy settled down some while I grinned.

"Richie? Goddamn it, Richie!" Chris banged the flat of his hand on the table to get my attention. I looked at him in surprise. "This kind of shit has to stop, okay? Or you will be doing every single day of those ten years."

I lit up a cigarette and chuckled.

"Christopher, you're so tense."

"And you're a Jackass," he said. I stuck out my two front teeth and made a donkey sound. He tried to fight a smile before shaking his head.

"Richie, I'm serious. I need you to sign up for whatever they offer you in here- religion, education, therapy, whatever you can take."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, I'll do it. Quit lecturing and tell me what's been going on. How's the old lady? And the rest of the runts?" I had never thought it believable but I actually missed my brothers and sisters. Chris shrugged. He wasn't giving away much. I guessed he wouldn't tell me if things were real bad. Not while I was in here.

"Everyone's okay, I guess."

"And how's college, Genius? Everything you hoped it would be?"

He looked a little strained, the look I had come to know as his 'Nina' look.

"Come on, don't tell me the action in California is lacking." I'd have given anything to get my end away with a good looking broad right then.

Chris smiled sadly.

"The action's good, man. But action ain't everything."

"Easy for you to say," I snorted. "Some of the guys in here are beginning to look real pretty".

He laughed which was my intention.

"Really man, I'm digging you in this suit. The one suit I own I've had since…" I trailed off but it was too late anyway.

"You can say it," Chris said softly. "Since Ace's wedding."

The whole best man thing had seemed a good idea in the beginning. The chicks had all dying to be my date and I knew all the Cobra guys were jealous. But then someone mentioned I had to make a speech, which ruined the whole damn thing. The morning of the wedding though, the speech was the last of my worries.

"Richie, come on!" Chris had been banging on the bathroom door for twenty minutes now, and he was getting on my last nerve. "I need to brush my teeth, I'm gonna be late for school!"

Fucking school. I was supposed to be picking Ace up in an hour and I had had my head down the toilet for the last twenty minutes.

"Richie!" Chris yelled again.

"What?" I bellowed back. "I'm busy in here!"

"Richie, I have a quiz today. It's more important than your hangover! Just let me have my toothbrush, would ya?"

The banging on the door felt like someone was knocking on my head. With a groan, I leaned over and lifted the latch on the door.

"Get it yourself," I moaned into the toilet bowl.

Chris hurried inside and retrieved his toothbrush from the sink. I expected him to head straight back out but he stopped behind me.

"You okay, Rich?"

"Sure," I mumbled. "I'm fucking great, how did you guess?"

"You want anything? Breakfast? Coffee?"

The thought kicked off the heaving again. I wanted to beat his ass but I couldn't get off the floor.

"Water," I gasped. "Get me some water."

He was back with it quickly. As I took it from him, I leaned back against the wall in our tiny bathroom and gasped for breath.

"You should go back to bed," he advised like the patronising shit he was.

"Can't. I gotta pick Ace up soon."

"I'm sure he can get someone else to…Oh." I could see the realisation hit him like a tonne of bricks. "It's today, huh?"

I was sick and tired of being the bearer of bad news.

"Gordie Lachance is going. Didn't he tell you?"

I had tried my level best not to mention the wedding again but by the looks of things, so had the Lachance kid.

"Me and Gordie don't talk about, you know- that."

"Oh." I took a gulp of the water and ran a hand over my face. "Listen, Chris, you ain't missing nothing. Ace don't even wanna get married. It's just the right thing to do."

This didn't seem to make him feel any better. He sat down heavily on the edge of the tub.

"You know what? Maybe he won't even go through with it. I won't talk him round if he decides not to." This was my kind gesture of the day but he looked anything but happy.

"Jesus Christ, Richie, you better had! He can't do that to her, not today!"

This kid was not making a billy goat's worth of sense.

"Man, I don't understand you, you know that?"

"What's there to understand? That just because I wish she chose me doesn't mean I want her stood up pregnant at the altar?"

"Yeah, that," I said. We locked eyes and I wondered how I could be so different from my own brother. I didn't get on great with Frankie Junior but at least we understood each other. He wouldn't give a shit if Ace never showed in Chris' position and neither would I.

"I'm gonna be late." Chris stood up. "Good luck today, Richie."

And then he walked out.

I didn't tell him how the day went. I didn't talk to him about the kid being born. But I could see how his ears pricked up when Ace's car came up the road. I knew he went into the den so he could glance out of the window and check if she was riding shotgun. I saw how his shoulders sagged when he realised she wasn't. It was stupid of him to think differently. I knew Ace didn't want Nina within a five mile radius of Chris.

"You had any visitors? Besides me and Ma?" I guess he was trying to change the subject.

"Vince and Billy came up a few weeks ago. Saw me and Charlie both. He's over on D wing. Come to think of it, Charlie asked if you'd look at his case last time I saw him."

Chris looked amused.

"Tell him he doesn't qualify as anybody I remotely like."

"Aw," I put both hands to my heart mockingly. "You mean I qualify?"

"No, but you're a blood relative. I don't really have a choice."

I snickered at him and we shot the breeze some more until visiting time was up.

"Well, uh, thanks- for coming, ya know." I honestly meant it. Most of my friends couldn't make it here from Castle Rock but as soon as Chris was in town, he made the trip to see me. Like the ride from California wasn't far enough.

"No problem. I'll come back soon, okay?" He shook my hand warmly but held onto it as I turned to go. "And Richie? Stay out of trouble, huh? And keep us both off of your buddy's Ma? Not even you're that desperate yet."

I wondered how I'd never noticed how funny my little brother was before. I was still chuckling at that one when Holden let me back into my cell.