AN/ Hi chapter 22 is here!

I wanna say thanks to datgirl1065, StupidlyGenius, Bluedog270, TeddyBear98, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed, We are all Imperfect, September14Fall, hgirl, StripedFuzzySocks, lovinbooks10, aligning street lights, PurplePancakes, KyannA, Pinkrocker12, Guest, Bad1027, Dreaming2BAWriter, secrets xx, MrsCharlieAckles, XMusicIsMyReligion, 1379, Randomgirl111111, 88Keys, 10pandasrule10, Dachshundlover3, Awriter'sthoughts, Penguinlover3333.
Your reviews mean a lot:)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' it.

Chapter 22

Another side of Mark

Kim's pov.

I watched the familiar houses passing by outside the window, as we were driving along the road. The morning had seemed to never end, before I was finally allowed to leave the hospital. Even now everything was taking such a long time. I mean I don't think I can recall dad ever driving so slowly…

It was almost 11 o'clock now, and I've lost a couple of valuable hours already. I hadn't told anyone, but I was determined to continue my search for Jack in any way possible. Even if I was hurt and needed time to heal, I wasn't intending on to just sit around and wait to see what happens…

And I knew exactly where I should start. The tricky part was to keep my little secret from my parents though. They would stop me immediately if they knew, considering that I almost got killed in my last attempt of playing detective. But I didn't feel like I had a choice. I had to do it…for Jack. My stomach turned when I thought about him. I hoped with all my heart that he was still alive.

"…do you think Kim?" Mum said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?"

"Do you want anything to eat now or do you want to wait a couple of hours?" She asked from the passenger seat.

"I'm not that hungry at the moment." I answered truthfully, as dad finally turned the last corner before you could see our house.

"Okay. Then I can do some errands before I'll prepare dinner. I need to return Mrs Martinez giant glass bowl I borrowed for thanksgiving, then I need to call Uncle Ray…" She mumbled, mainly to remind herself. It was an old habit she had. Her words died out, before she turned in her seat eyeing me. "Is there anything you need?" She asked just as dad parked the car on our driveway.

"Not really…" I shook my head.

"Are you feeling alright?" She nodded towards my injury on which I had rested my hand on without even noticing it.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said, unbuckling myself before jumping out of the car. It hurt to move, but I was determined not to show it. "Hey um… could I come with you to the Martinez?" I asked as soon as we all were out of the car. Mum gave me a wary look.

"Are you sure you're feeling good enough to do that?"

"Yes. Like I said, I'm feeling fine and it's Sunday. I don't have anything else to do anyway and I wanna meet Jerry." She looked at me in silence for a moment, as to decide what to do. I knew she was thinking about the fact that the Martinez family practically lived next door to Mark. She was probably worried about what would happen if I showed up by the crime scene again. Frankly I was a little worried myself, but I couldn't let an opportunity like this go to waste. In fact this was way better then the plan I had thought out myself.

"Okay." She said finally. "Maybe it'll be good for you to meet some friends." I smiled.

"Great, I'm just gonna leave Grace a message." I said. "I promised, I would do that once I got home."

"You do that." She smiled at me. "I have some things to take care of myself…We'll leave in about thirty minutes or so." We had made it to the porch now waiting for dad to unlock the door. In his hand, the bag containing my medicines and belongings hung.

"I can take care of that." I said, grabbing it, without him taking greater notice of it.

Once inside I hurried up to my room. Without hesitation I turned the bag upside down, letting its contents fall onto my bed. Throwing all the medical care stuff aside, I quickly found what I was looking for…

The people back at the hospital had emptied all the pockets of my clothes and put all my belongings in the bag for safe keeping. Nelly's scissors were among them, but it was the small crinkled up piece of paper that caught my attention. I unfolded it and found to my relief that it was Tess's letter to Jack. I had been worried that I'd lost it or that the police would've confiscated it, but strangely enough I still had it. I hadn't told anyone about it though, so there was really no reason for people to ask about it.

I shoved the letter in my jeans pocket before grabbing my phone to text Grace.

'I'm back from the hospital. I'm fine. Wont be home until later…

ttyl

/ Kim'

I sat down on the bed. Yawning, I realized that I was pretty tired. The past couple of days had really been exhausting for both mind and body. I wasn't gonna let that stop me though.

My plan had been to call Nelly once I was home, but by coincident I've got the opportunity to visit her. Of course no one knew that it was her that I really wanted to talk to, and not Jerry. She was the one who had given me the information I needed to find Jack last time and I had a feeling she was the key to finding him again. I just hoped that I was right… If I wasn't, then I had no idea of what to do…

I was eager to get inside of the Martinez house. Trying my best to ignore the house cordoned off with police tape, just a hundred yards down the block, I listen anxiously for the footsteps that were approaching the door from the inside. I hoped that no cop or anyone else working on the case down the road would notice that I was there. The last thing I wanted was for any of them to come up and ask me questions. I could feel that my mum was pretty tense too, probably for the same reason as I was…

"Oh, Hi Mrs Crawford…and Kim." It was Jerry who had opened the door. He seemed surprised to see me there. "I didn't know you were out of the hospital already." He said with a smile.

"Who is it Jerry?!" A voice with a Spanish accent yelled from inside.

"It's just Kim and her mum!" Jerry yelled back over his shoulder.

"Then for Christ sake let them in." The voice was closer now and it didn't take long until Mrs Martinez came into view. She smiled welcoming at us and shoved Jerry aside so we could get in.

"Hi" Mum said. "I hope we're not showing up in a bad time? We were just going to return this." She held up the bowl.

"Not at all. C'mon in." Mrs Martinez gestured for us to get further into that house.

"Jerry, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked, pushing him aside.

"Sure." He shrugged, now interested in what I had to say. I gave him a look and a nod, meaning that I wanted to talk somewhere more private. Lucky for me Jerry actually caught that. "C'mon Kim I've got something to show you." He said in pretty loud and clumsy way, so that our mothers would hear us. I rolled my eyes. It was so obvious that he just made that up as an excuse for us to leave. But at least he tried and I appreciated that. Besides our moms were too busy talking that I don't think they noticed. We quickly made our way passed them and up to his room.

The room was a mess as usual… I briefly wondered if he could find anything in here at all. He closed the door behind us, before literally diving in under the bed. I looked at him surprised. That was strange even for Jerry…

Before I got the chance to ask what was going on, he had already emerged from under the bed with a satisfied look on his face. He quickly noticed the way I was looking at him.

"In this house, you never know who's watching you." He explained, whispering. I just rolled my eyes at him. He sat down on the edge of his bed, watching me.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked eagerly.

"Actually…" I started. "I wanted to talk to Nelly…" I paused, to read his expression. He looked a little disappointed. "You can hear too." I quickly added.

"Sweet." His face lit up, resting his elbows on his knees. After a moment of him just sitting there looking at me I said;

"Well, is she here somewhere?"

"Oh right…" He got to his feet and headed out the door. "C'mon." I followed him till we came to a door furthest down the hallway. Just before we reached it Jerry turned to me, a serious look on his face.

"Everyone knows you've been shot and had to get to the hospital. But no one knows exactly what happened and who did it." He explained, while whispering. "I know that it was Mark Greene, only because Eddie told me so." There was an uncertain tone in his voice as if he still wasn't sure that he'd got the facts straight.

"Yes, it was him." I confirmed a little confused why he would bring that up?

"The thing is that Mark is Tess's father…and Tess was a friend of Nelly…" He trailed of.

"You don't want me to tell her it was him." I stated. "Don't worry I won't." I reassured, receiving a relieved smile from the dark haired boy in front of me. To be honest I didn't mind to keep it a secret, since telling her could possibly be a bump in the road to the small 'interrogation' I was planning on doing…

Jerry turned around and threw the door open without knocking, receiving a death glare from his sister.

"How many times do I have to tell you; to not burst into my room without my permission?!" She was mad I could tell. Jerry just shrugged, not really paying any attention to what she'd just said. Stepping inside he got out of my way and I could now see Nelly sitting by her desk, writing. I figured she was probably doing her homework or something. Her expression immediately changed when she saw me.

"Hi Kim." She looked surprised but glad. "I didn't know you were here."

"Hey" I flashed a smile, feeling a little uncertain where to start.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Fine. A little sore that's all." I said closing the door behind me. There was a moment of awkward silence in the room, no one really knowing what to say. Jerry and Nelly exchanged a glance before she spoke up.

"We heard the shots." I just looked at her, still not sure of what to say. "I was down watching TV…The first one wasn't so loud though, but when we heard the second shot, we all got really scared. Dad looked out the window and saw you running down the street… Of course he didn't know it was you… It was pretty dark…" I nodded, knowing what she meant. "He was about to run outside… but we stopped him …" She was looking down. "Sorry about that, but we just didn't wanted him to get hurt." Jerry watched me with interest. He had been unusually quiet. Maybe he was scared that he would say something he would regret. Jerry wasn't that good with keeping secrets. "We saw you jump into that car just a moment after and figured that we couldn't do much more to help..." She continued. "Dad called the cops…" Silence was once again filling the air, before I had processed everything she'd said.

"You all did the right thing." I said, smiling weakly. I know what I said was true, but a part of me was really upset and almost mad that they hadn't done anything. I came out of it alright, but with some help Jack could have too… Jack… I needed to stay focus. There were a lot of questions I needed answers to, but before I managed to say anything Nelly was already questioning me out.

"Did you see the man that shot you?" Jerry gave me an anxious look and I quickly shook my head.

"No, I didn't."

"What were you doing in our neighbourhood?" She asked, causing me to hesitate. I wasn't prepared for any of these questions. In fact I was the one who should do the questioning, but now it was like yesterday's interrogation was repeating itself all over again.

"I was on my way over here to return your scissors." I said, reminding myself that I actually had them in my pocket. I pulled them out. "You forgot them in the dojo." I said, handing them to her.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could look at your scrapbook again."

"Sure, they're over there." She pointed at the bookshelf right next to her desk. I looked to where she pointed just to realize that there seven of them. I didn't know which of them she had brought to the dojo earlier. Noticing my hesitation, Nelly jumped out of the chair and walked up to the book shelf. "This one is from our family vacation last year." She pointed at a red book that was standing furthers to the left. "And this one is mostly family pictures, and that one is full of school stuff and pictures of my friends. And this one over here is from this sum…" I stopped listen to her, already knowing which book possibly contained the information I needed. Eyeing the light blue one I asked.

"Is it okay if I look in this one?" I'd placed my fingers on the one that was filled with pictures of her friends.

"Sure." She shrugged. "Some of the pages aren't so good though. I had a hard time deciding what colours to use on the…" Again I zoomed her out, as I with interest opened the scrapbook I was now holding in my hands.

I quickly went through the pages until I found what I was looking for. The page only had one photo, but was filled with decorations of stars and a moon. The picture showed three girls in their pyjamas all cuddled up in a sofa with popcorn in their hands. The picture itself wasn't so interesting… It was the red head slightly taller girl sitting in the middle that had caught my attention.

"That is from the sleepover at Tess's place." Nelly explained, when she noticed me looking with interest at the photo. "There are a few more pictures from that evening in there…"

I looked carefully at it. The fact that it was taken in the house that would haunt me forever got me even more curious. A sudden sigh reached my ears.

"Is this all you're gonna do? Go through Nelly's pictures?" Jerry asked a little bored. "Let me know when you're done talking…" He said, before heading for the door. I don't know why he lost his interest so suddenly. But on the other hand, maybe it was good that he left, since again he's not that good with keeping secrets…

I turned to Nelly again after Jerry had left the room.

"What movie did you watch?" I asked, noticing the annoyed look on Tess's face in the picture.

"I don't really remember… Some romance stuff I think…" She said. "Of course Tess wasn't so happy about that…" A faint smile appeared on her lips at the memory. "She was mainly into action movies with a lot of fighting and stuff." I raised an eyebrow.

"Was she into martial arts?" I asked.

"Well I guess… I mean she never did take any lessons…but she talked about it a lot. She and her dad used to go and watch all these tournaments, especially when you guys were competing." I looked up at her. There was something in the way she'd said that that made me think that there was a little bit more to that story. I turned the page, just to find five more photos taken at the sleepover. Four of the pictures were taken in a girl's bedroom. Nelly, Tess and a third girl were hanging out, laughing and goofing around. I figured that the room must be Tess's.

"She seemed like a nice girl." I said.

"Yeah she was…I miss her so much…" Nelly said quietly. I almost didn't hear her as something had caught my attention. I was a little surprised that I hadn't seen that immediately. It was mostly on one picture that you could see it clearly. Tess was sitting on her bed doing a funny face that would have made me laugh on any other day. But I didn't pay any attention to her, because on the wall above her bed there were- not just one- but nine pictures of the brown haired boy that meant more to me than anything in this world… Some of the photos were taken at tournaments others seemed to have been taken in…school?

"Is that…Jack?" I asked even though I was positive it was. I would have recognized him anywhere. Nelly gave me a quick glance.

"Yeah…" I think she was trying to read me, not knowing how I would take this information. "Tess had a major crush on him…" She explained.

"Oh…" was all I managed to get out. I had somewhat known this. I mean it was pretty obvious back at the tournament… but still, hearing someone confirm it stunned me a little.

"That was kind of the main reason why she was so into martial arts…"

'…and the reason they took Jack…' I thought to myself.

"Did her father know about that?" I asked after composing myself from the minor shock. "About Jack, I mean."

"Yes he did. Tess loved her father and they were really close. She told him everything… Sometimes I wish I had a father like him." She said. 'No you don't' I thought giving her a weird look. But of course she didn't know what he'd done so… "Mark did everything for his daughter. It's like he dedicated his life for her… Ever since the accident I rarely see him anymore…" She trailed of thinking. I was silent too for a while. She had given me so much information already. "I'm worried about him. There have been police cars around his house all weekend…No one tells me what's going on though. Dad tried to talk to the police just to see if Mark's okay, but they won't say a thing…" I stood there looking at her, not knowing what to say. The fact that there would be someone there to worry and care about Mark had never crossed my mind. All I could feel when I thought about him was hatred. I couldn't care less about what happened to him as long as he stayed away from Jack and me. He might as well go and die. In fact I kind of wanted him to do that, preferably slowly and not without feeling at least a tenth of all the pain and fear he caused both me and Jack…

"Do you think Mark was involved in the shooting?" Nelly's question made me snap out of my dark thoughts. Her voice was filled with concern. Once again I was dumbfounded.

"I don't know." I said simply, mainly because I didn't know what to answer… Refocusing on the scrapbook, I turned the pages. I wasn't good at lying and she probably would have seen right through me if I'd kept eye contact with her.

We were both silent until I was almost at the end of the book. There was one last set of photos, all taken around the same time. Tess and Nelly were on the most of them, but there was also a tall ginger haired man with green eyes on three of the pictures. I instantly recognized him, even though he had a different hair colour now.

"Where is this?" I asked, seeing that the photos weren't taken any place I knew.

"That is in the cabin Mark's old uncle owns. His uncle never goes there after an accident that forced him to quit hunting and fishing… Mark and Tess went there all the time though. I've been there twice." She pointed at one of the pictures showing a soaking wet Mark with a huge smile on his face. "That was just after we've been down by the lake. We we're sitting at the dock, fishing. Tess got a bit bored and decided to push him in." She smiled a little at the memory. "He laughed so hard at that…" It was hard for me to picture Mark as a playful and loving father. In fact it was almost impossible even though I had the pictures to prove it. It felt like we were talking about a completely different person.

I turned to the last page. A picture of Nelly and Tess sitting around a small kitchen table eating and laughing, filled most of the page. Behind them there was a window that revealed the green forest outside. Nelly had decorated the page with some stickers and a cut out map. I could easily find Seaford. Someone (probably Nelly) had drawn a really tortuous line from 'point to point'.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Oh, that is the map to the cabin. I sort of like to do that… sometime in the future I might wanna go back and visit all those places." She shrugged. 'The future might be closer than you think', I thought. I knew that I wanted to go there right now.

"How far is that?" I asked, completely focused on the map.

"To the cabin? I don't know really… but it takes a couple of hours to get there… Once you get here…" She placed her finger on a spot where the line made a sharp turn upwards. "You turn left and head basically right out in the forest. The way is hard to see and almost too small for a vehicle to drive through…but that's the only way to get there. The cabin is about 4-5 miles further up that path…"

I studied the map, trying to memorize it. Somehow I knew that this was important information. I needed to go there. Who knows what might be hidden in that cabin? Of course I was hopping that Jack would be there. My mind told me that he probably wasn't though, but I was sure that the place held some major clues that would bring me closer to him…

Speaking of clues... I remembered the letter I'd carried with me. Nelly watched me with interest as I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"Does this mean anything to you?" I asked, as I waited for her to read through it. The letter was signed Tess, although I wasn't sure it was from her... After a few seconds Nelly shook her head.

"This is not from Tess...or at least not that Tess." She gestured towards the scrapbook I still held in one of my hands. "Mark doesn't own a company...and never had. He's a janitor down by the mall... and this is not her handwriting..." She said, confirming my suspicions.

"Kim?" Our heads whipped around to see Jerry standing in the doorway. "Your mum says it's time for you to leave and Nelly…" He turned his attention to her. "It's time for dinner."

She gave me back the letter as I put the scrapbook down on the desk before we started to leave the room. I was the last one out. Just before I reached the door I stopped, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I threw a quick glance at the backs of Jerry and Nelly who didn't seem to notice I wasn't following them anymore. I hesitated slightly before I quickly spun around and headed back to the desk. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, eying the scrapbook that was lying there, even though Nelly probably wouldn't mind. I just didn't want anyone to know about this… With one swift movement I turned up the page with the map and quickly took a picture of it with my phone, before closing the book and hurrying back out.

No one seemed to have noticed that I was a little behind. Reaching the bottom floor I saw mum already standing by the door, ready to leave. Jerry and Nelly were there too ready to say goodbye.

"Well, see you at school." I said to Jerry and Nelly before leaving their house. "Bye"

"Bye Kim" Both of them said in unison.

The visit had gone better than I'd expected. I've gotten so much information…Mark, Tess and the cabin was on my mind on our whole way home. I knew I had to go there and I also knew someone that might be able to get me there. Slowly a plan was starting to take form in my head. I just prayed to God that I was on the right track; if not…then I don't know what to do…

So what did you think?

If you don't remember what the letter says, then you can go back and read it in chapter 4 or 11.

Please don't forget to review. There'll be a sneak peek, as usual:)

/MJ