You all were demanding that I get this chapter up ASAP. I tried my best. I wanted to make sure that it was as good as I could make it. The next chapter is more dramatic than this one, because this one had to be done but wasn't filled with drama. It is, however, filled with happiness that will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like a teddy bear, or snuggling under blankets on a cold winter night.

How far away is the end of this story? I'd be awesome if this story was a solid 100 chapters. That's what I'm aiming for. 100, or less.

Read On!

Journal,

It's been about a week since Duracell gave birth. The babies look like rabbits now, but they're still not up and hopping. That won't happen for another week. They're trying to move, taking baby-like steps, but they don't get far. They have fur now, but only a little. Names would be nice to give them, but I want to give them names based on how they are, like I did Duracell. I probably won't give them names until next week when their personalities develop.

I don't know why, but when I'm taking care of Duracell and her bunnies, Alex is silent. Not a word comes out of his mouth. He's there, but doesn't say a word. I can't be around her 24/7, that's the bad thing. I try not to pay attention to Alex, or to tune him out, but he always gets my attention. My next meeting with Mr. Simmons isn't until the end of the month.

Don't let me do anything dumb until then.

~*~V~*~

Loud cheers roared from the crowd and bounded off the walls in the gym as the home team scored another point. The noise help drown out any slick insulting comment Alex had to say about anything, which TJ was thankful for. Alex took every single opportunity there was to tempt him to do something that TJ knew was wrong, but slowly began to consider. Alex was, when he was around, talking about lighting something on fire. He talked about it less and less as the days went on, because TJ was thinking about it more and more on his own. His love of fire hadn't faded, but his focus on it had. It laid dormant in his mind, appearing to be an issue that was resolved and posed no threat. Alex was pushing it out, causing TJ pay attention to it. It boiled up to the point where one day, when he went outside to smoke and Alex followed.

~*~FLASHBACK~*~

"You can't tell me you don't love looking at it," Alex whispered in his ear. In the midst of lighting his cigarette, Alex stopped him a made TJ look at the small flame coming out.

"Yeah, I do. So what? It doesn't mean anything," TJ said, putting the lighter away and choosing not to smoke.

"It could be bigger. It could be more powerful. You can make it like that. Just put it against something and watch it grow," Alex tempted. "Remember what it was like to light things on fire and how it felt?"

TJ thought back to when he lit things on fire before the elementary school. He went searching for old and discarded homework sheets and textbooks, and put them inside a beaten up trashcan. He lit a match and tossed it in the trashcan, letting the papers catch on fire and burn. He did it deep in the wood were it looked like no one came through. He used to watch the fire, the same way he would watch TV, or a movie, until the fire fizzled out on its own.

I always made him feel better if he had a particularly bad day, or if he had gotten in trouble with his parents. When he was angry it would calm him down and if he was sad, it would make him happy.

"That doesn't mean anything," He said. "It was bad, and I'm not doing it again."

"Why not? Have some fun for once. Light something on fire. Something small," Alex said, tempting him. "No, go big. Light the whole damn school on fire."

"No."

"Yes."

"It's not happening."

"Yes it will. It's only a matter of time."

~*~END OF FLASHBACK~*~

The thought of setting something on fire popped up without Alex increasing often, and that lead to hours upon hours of TJ telling himself that he wouldn't consider messing with fire again. He didn't want to get caught and thrown back in jail. Things were going too good to be wasted on one moment of stupidity.

He got his 'fix' by staring at the small flame on his lighter. That wasn't working as well as it used to.

The buzzer signaling halftime brought him out of his thoughts. He looked down at the court where the players were coming off and the cheerleaders were coming onto the court. He made eye contact with Ashley A. and the two smiled at each other before the squad began to perform their routine.

~*~V~*~

"It's about time that game was over. My throat was hurting from yelling over the crowd," Alex said. The game had ended twenty minutes ago, and students were beginning to leave. TJ stayed in the gym to wait for Ashley A.

'Good. Now you'll get a sore throat and have to stop talking,' TJ thought. 'Your voice is worse than nails on a chalkboard.'

"Thanks for waiting." He turned as Ashley A. Came up to him and wrapped her arm around him. "I'm having an after party at my house. Wanna come?"

"A party? That depends. How long is it supposed to be?" He asked her.

"Only an hour or two. It's Friday and I need to catch up on my beauty rest," Said Ashley A. "We haven't spent any time together since last week. Please?"

"I'll only be able to stay for an hour," he said as they walked outside. "I told Zack I would show him my old tree house in our backyard. I'll make up for not seeing you all week tomorrow. And if you're tired, why throw a party at all?"

"Why are you questioning it? You're gonna get a piece of ass," Said Alex. "Do something right for once."

"I have an image to maintain. You know that," She said as her driver pulled up next to them. "Let's go, before everyone else gets there."

~*~V~*~

"…..And there were only five second left and we and the other team were tied. I swear that time slowed down in those last five seconds because I did too much for it to be that little bit of time. I must've been running around 30 mph because everything was a blur. Then I heard the whistle and I looked around and saw that I made a touchdown, breaking the tie and winning the game. It was amazing, you guys should've seen it."

"…..We did see it, Vince. We were there, watching."

With half of the students that came out to the basketball game in his girlfriend's backyard, TJ found it easier to stay. He planned to leave if he found that the crowd was too big for his taste. He leaned against the fence, listening to Vince explain his point of view of the play that won the game for his team.

"I know you guys saw it, but I want to let you know what I saw," Vince said with enthusiasm. "You can't understand all of it if you don't know what it was like to be down there on the field, making the play, and putting the other team in their place where they belong."

"This is the third time telling us. How much more detail can you go into?" Gus asked him.

"You have no idea," Said Vince. "I'm not done explaining it."

"Yes you are," Gretchen told him, taking his hand and kissing him on the cheek. "Pick something else to talk about."

"C'mon, this is a big deal! I made the winning touchdown and we're going to the championship, all because of me!"

"Listen to your girlfriend," TJ said. He pushed himself of the fence. "She's smart….….and what are you looking at?" He asked, noticing the strange looks on their faces. He turned around to see if they were looking at something behind him, but found nothing. "What's with you all?"

"Nothing," Spinelli said, taking a sip of her soda. "Nothing at all."

"Something," He mumbled. He tossed his cigarette and stomped it out. "I'm heading home, gotta go before my rabbit goes apeshit after being stuck in a cage all d—" he was cut short when an arm wrapped around his neck from behind and forced him into a headlock. He twisted and fought his way out of it. When he broke free, he stood up and looked into a familiar pair of green eyes.

"What's goin' on, Freckles?"

"JoJo what the hell!" TJ gave his former roommate a half serious shove. The two pretended to fight, throwing light punches and avoiding each other's hits. They eventually stopped and JoJo kept one arm wrapped tightly around TJ's neck.

"Miss me, Freckles?"

"Where the hell have you been?" TJ asked him. "You had me worried sick!"

"I was busy! I'll tell you 'bout it later," Said JoJo. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? Don't be rude."

"Right, right. These are my friends," TJ said, turning back to the others. "This is Spinelli, you know her already, Vince, Gretchen, Mikey, and Gus. Everyone, this is JoJo. If it wasn't for this asshole I might've been killed in Duval. How did you find me here?"

"You showed me where you lived when we broke out. Don't tell me you don't remember," Said JoJo. "We saw you leave and followed you in my car."

"We?"

"Yeah 'we.' Me, Specs, and Bandit." JoJo pointed across the yard where Specs ad Bandit where at the food table putting whatever food they could reach in their mouth. He tightened his grip around TJ's neck. "How's my rabbit, Freckles? She better be happy."

"She's more than happy. She's ecstatic. I was about to go home and fed her," TJ told him. He managed to pry JoJo's arm from around his neck. "She had babies, you know."

"Shit, really? We gotta go I want to see this," JoJo said as he pulled TJ along.

"I'll talk to you guys later," TJ called out to Vince and the others as JoJo forced him to leave.

"Bandit, Specs, we're leavin'. Duracell had babies and I wanna see."

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Bandit asked with a mouthful of food. "You had contact with us. What's your excuse?"

"I don't have one."

"Damn right you don't," JoJo said, grabbing the nearest bowl of chips. "Let's go."

~*~V~*~

"You're giving us one of these bunnies, dude."

"Ten? That's quite a lot."

"…..Who's the father?"

The four boys sat on the floor in TJ's room with a warm blanket in the middle of the floor. The one week old bunnies laid on the blanket as the boys watched them begin to open their eyes.

"One of my little brother's friends has male rabbits and brought them over to play. They must've mated when I wasn't watching them," TJ explained. "I didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth. I had my suspicions, but didn't know for sure."

"You ARE gonna let us have one, aren't you?" Bandit asked him. "There's ten of 'em. You can spare one."

"That looks like what's going to be the case. I can't care for ten more rabbits on my own."

"Have you named them yet?" JoJo asked. Duracell has hopping back and forth between the boys and had stopped in front of him.

"No. I wanted to wait. Do you want me to right now?" Asked TJ.

"That would be nice."

"Fine. This one," He carefully picked up and white bunny with gray fur on the tips of its tiny ears and front feet. "I'm naming this one Falafel, because you wanted to name Duracell Falafel."

"Damn right," JoJo laughed, reaching into the bowl of chips he stole from the party. "Next."

"This one," He said, picking up an tan bunny with gray feet.

"Has no ears," Specs told him. "It's ears are missing." TJ pulled the bunny closer to him to have a closer look. As hard as he tried to look, he found that Specs was right, and the little creature didn't have ears like it's brothers and sisters.

"…How….? What happened? Where are it's ears? Did they not grow in yet….?"

"Let me see it." TJ handed over the bunny to Specs how then looked over where it's ears should be. "This is gonna sound worse than it is, but Mommy probably bit them off."

"Why would she do that? Was she trying to eat it?"

"Oh no, not at all. Rabbits are clean creatures. Duracell must've been grooming them, but over-groomed this one in particular to the point where she accidently bit the ears off. I can see bite marks around the stubs…it'll be fine without it's ears; it's not life-threatening.," Specs explained, sitting the bunny next to Falafel to avoid getting the named ones confused with the unnamed. "I want this one, okay? This one is mine."

"Got it. Next one….," TJ said, picking up a white bunny with a tan circle on it's back. "Oatmeal Raisin, Oatmeal for short." He looked behind his as he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He saw Zack standing behind him, clutching his teddy bear. "Hey, Zack. Is something wrong?"

"Uh-uh. Can I name a bunny, too?" Zack asked him.

"Of course you can. I'll even let you name two of them." TJ picked him up and sat Zack down in his lap. "Everyone, this is my little brother Zack. Zack, these are my friends JoJo, Bandit, and Specs. They're nice people. So, what names do you have?"

"That one," Zack said, pointing to bunny with white fur and gray fur at the tips of it's ears and one stripe down it back. "Thing One. And that one," He point to a bunny with similar fur but with two stripes down it's back. "Thing Two, like in The Cat in The Hat. Do you like those names?"

"I love those names. Really creative." TJ moved Thing One and Thing Two over to the named group. He picked up the bunny that had the same style of fur Duracell have. "I'm keeping this one for myself, and giving it the name Energizer. My Energizer bunny."

"Freckles…." JoJo moaned, rubbing between his eyes with his thumb and index finger.

"I'm naming it Energizer. NEXT."

"You forgot to name the earless one," Bandit pointed out.

"NORMAN. NEXT, let's keep it moving, people," TJ said. He picked up and all tan bunny whose eyes were open and trying to walk. "Because this is the first one who tried to move, I'm calling it Speedy Gonzales, like the mouse. Speedy for short."

"'Bout time you gave one of them a normal name," JoJo said.

"…Right, this little one, the runt," He said, picking up the smallest of the group, a bunny with all gray fur. "Paprika, and that one," He said, nodding towards another gray bunny. "Bugs."

"One more," Said Bandit. "What's that one's name?"

"Pizza, 'cause of all the spots," TJ said. The last baby bunny was white with gray spots all over. "Happy?"

"No," JoJo said.

"Too bad. I'm not changing any of them."

"It's raining," Said Zack. They all look out the window and saw that it was raining, hard.

"It's gonna rain all night," Bandit said. "We should go, before it get's any worse."

"I'm not driving in the rain," JoJo told them. "I can't see shit. I'm not driving in that."

"Well we can't stay here. There isn't enough room."

"There's enough room for me, right Freckles?"

"For one person, yes," TJ said.

"Then I'll stay overnight. You two go check into a hotel or somethin'. Me and Freckles got to catch up on some stuff. Take my car, but don't hurt her."

~*~V~*~

"Now, do you mind telling me where the hell were you the last few months?"

"….don't curse in front of the rabbits."

After Bandit and Specs left, and Zack was put to bed, TJ put the rabbit back in their cage. It continued to rain outside as TJ lay in bed with JoJo next to him. He demanded to know why he was left to worry about his well-being without so much as a letter to reassure him that everything was fine.

"Answer my question," He demanded.

"I was busy. The judge was reviewing our case with the security video. I was acquitted of the charges. I got a job and found an apartment. That's why I didn't write any of you. Had to get myself straightened out. Good enough for you?"

"Almost. You still had me worried sick," TJ said, turning to him. "I think of you as my best friend, and to suddenly not hear from you scared me. Don't do that again!"

"I said I was sorry. I'm here now," he said, running his fingers through TJ's now brown hair. "you stopped bleaching your hair? Why? It looked good on you."

"The chemicals. I had my blind eye removed and the chemicals could irritate the socket. I'll bleach it in another week when I get a prosthetic eye."

"Damn, you had your eye plucked out? Lemme see." TJ held opened his left eyelid and showed JoJo that the eye was taken out. "Ugh. That's nasty. Close your eye, I don't want to see that."

"You asked to see."

"So? I didn't think it would look like that."

"Whatever, JoJo. I'm tired, go to sleep."

I hope you all liked this chapter. It's going to be one of the least chaotic chapter for a while. Next chapter will send chills up your spine, that's what I'm aiming for.

Please Review.