We're almost to 100 reviews! I apologize for so many breaks and hiatuses. School is very overwhelming for me right now so I don't really have a lot of time to write. But I will try to update as often as possible as long as there is still interest in the story. Please leave me some reviews! It makes my day to read what y'all have to say!
Don't forget that everything will be from Callie's POV unless otherwise noted.
"Cal, will you go out to the garage and tell Jude that dinner is ready?" Lena rubbed my back gently and told Mariana to take my place setting the table.
I smiled softly as I walked towards the back door. Cold air rushed towards me when I pushed the door open and I wrapped my sweater around myself, trying to block out the harsh winds. I knocked on the door before I entered but Jude didn't look up from his computer when I walked in.
"Dinner is ready. Lena made chicken and noodles." I hovered by the door, hoping he would respond to me. But after a few minutes of awkward silence I continued. "Stef and Jesus made some brownies so we'll have dessert too. And there's salad, rolls, and mixed veggies. You like vegetables, right Jude?"
He stopped browsing on his computer for a second and I saw him look to the side at me, but only briefly. I sighed and walked over to him. As soon as I was close enough to see his laptop he slammed it shut.
"Can't you just leave me alone?" His voice was quiet but he spoke harshly. "Tell Lena I said thank you for making dinner but I'm not hungry. And I would appreciate it if everyone would just leave me the hell alone. I don't want to talk to anyone. Just go away."
Suddenly I was enraged. "Jude, knock it off! I know that this sucks! I know that you're hurting. We've gone through so much crap lately and it sucks beyond all belief. But you are going to come inside and eat dinner with our family. It is going to do you no good to sit out here in this freezing garage all by yourself. You don't have to talk to anyone but get your ass inside right now or I'm going to drag you. And don't you dare test me. You know I can still kick your ass." I jumped up from the small couch and pointed towards the door angrily.
Jude glared up at me. He clenched his jaw and tightened his hands into fists. I momentarily thought that he was going to try and hit me but he reached down and shoved his laptop into his bag. He slung that bag over his shoulder and pushed passed me into the cold.
I followed closely behind and caught the door to the house just before he slammed it on me. He sat down on his stool and rested his head in his arms.
Everyone gave me confused looks but I just shook my head and mouthed just leave him be.
We ate rather silently. The joy from the power coming back on quickly left everyone as memories from the shooting were surely playing through everyone's heads. It'd only been a couple days after all. And I for one was thinking about the upcoming trial of that bastard, James Link. I wanted nothing more than to march down to the jail and kick his ass.
Lena finally broke the silence when he directed a question towards Jude. "So, Jude, what were you working on out there? Do you have an assignment for one of your classes?"
He mumbled something but no one could understand him.
"Come on dude, speak up!" Stef said jokingly.
Jude slowly lifted his head and glared at Lena. "I said mind your own damn business."
Mariana's jaw nearly hit the table and Jesus almost choked on his food. The room fell silent, waiting for Stef or Lena to speak.
"Excuse me?" Stef's voice was laced with anger. "You apologize this instant, young man!"
Jude's glare just intensified at that. "You can't tell me what to do. You're not my real mom."
"That's enough, Jude!" I slammed my fist down on the table and whipped around violently so I was facing him. "Apologize to them right now!"
We bore daggers into each other, neither of us willing to back down. I was so furious that I was visibly shaking.
I finally had enough. I grabbed Jude by the collar of his shirt and yanked him away from the table. He tried to fight me off but I was already stronger than him and my adrenaline was pumping so furiously through my body that no one could have stopped me. I dragged him outside and shoved him towards the snow.
"You want to get pissed at someone? Get pissed at me! I don't care! Yell at me, scream at me! You have no right to treat Stef and Lena that way. All they do is care for us and make sure we are safe and happy. So if you need to throw a punch or scream until you're blue in the face, do it to me. I can handle it!"
Jude picked himself up from the fluffy snow. He brushed the white powder off of his sweatshirt and started to pace back and forth. He was heaving and running his fingers through his hair angrily. Suddenly he turned towards me with one of the evilest glares I'd ever seen.
"I hate you! I hate you so much!" Jude's words struck me. He had never once told me that he hated me. I was so caught off guard that I didn't have time to react when he charged me. He picked me up and threw me into a snow pile. As soon as I was on my feet he came running towards me again. Luckily I was quick enough this time and I avoided his tackle. "You're such a bastard! I'm going to kill you!"
It was in that moment that I realized that Jude wasn't telling me that he hated me. I was just a stand-in for James Link. I knew he needed to get out all of the aggression that had been building up.
"Okay, you need to fight? Let's fight!" I ran at my brother and knocked him to the ground. He quickly regained his footing and started throwing punches at me. I deflected them as best I could but he got a couple good shots in to my ribs.
We went at it for several minutes. We would throw a few punches at each other's ribs or straight the gut and sometimes we ended up wrestling the other one to the ground. I started to realize that the punches he was throwing weren't as powerful as I knew them to be.
He took a step forward as he threw a punch but I grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm up behind his back. I kicked the back of his knees which sent him face first into a snow pile. I rolled him over and held him down on the ground.
"Don't you dare take it easy on me, Bravo. Fight like you were taught! Give me everything you've got. Do you understand me?!" I screamed in his face trying to get his blood boiling even more than it already was.
His face hardened and he threw me off of him. I rolled onto my side but he quickly pulled me to my feet. The grip he had on me was stronger than it ever had been before. Jude and I had engaged it several rounds of combat at New Intelligence and we trained right alongside each other so I was very aware of his limits and capabilities. This was something I had never seen before.
Jude grabbed me by the collar of my shirt to hold me in place and swung his fist so fast that I barely had time to register what was happening. His hand was like a rock as it smashed into my jaw. I fell into the snow once and held my face as pain radiated through it.
I heard a scream but I knew it wasn't mine or Jude's. It was then that I realized the rest of our family had been watching us brawl in the backyard.
He dropped down next to me and held his fist in the air. I was waiting for it to slam into my face once again, but it never came. I hadn't realized it but I'd been squeezing my eyes shut. I slowly opened them and looked up to see my brother kneeling next to me with tears streaming down his face.
"I hate him so much." Jude muttered. He slammed his fist into the hard ground before falling down next to me. He rolled towards me and buried his face in my shoulder.
I put a protective arm around him and let him cry into me. In that moment I couldn't feel the pain in my ribs or in my jaw. I couldn't even feel the cold snow. The only thing I could feel was happiness. My brother just took his first step towards healing.
Don't forget to leave a review! I have an idea that will come out in the next few chapters. Do you want me to keep the NCIS characters in the story or should I faze them out? And what do you want to see of Jude and Connor's relationship? Do you think Callie should have a love interest or not? Is there anything that you would like me to incorporate? Let me know!