I was too lazy to come up with a name for this chapter, and I apologize.

It's hot. Very, very, hot. And that would be fine; it was hot all summer. But I didn't have to go outside for longer than ten seconds. Now I have to march to class, in the heat, up a hill. And we have no AC in my dorm, just fans. The horror. It'll start to cool down after another week, but I want it now.

Read On!

"What about him?"

"…Nope."

"Him?"

"No."

"That guy over there, the green-eyed curly blonde with the dimples?"

"….cute, but still no."

To ease his girlfriend's fears of him rebelling and getting in trouble, TJ made a point to put those fears to rest. Ashley A's fears were justified after the pranks he pulled last Monday brought up memories of those he pulled before he was taken away to Duval. Having his pregnant girlfriend worried and stressed was unacceptable for TJ, and he made it a goal to rid those problems from her mind. His reasoning was that stress was bad for the baby (and the mother), and Ashley being only 17 was bad enough.

He surprised her by showing up on her doorstep, offering to take her out on a picnic Saturday afternoon. He brought Zack with him because he hadn't taken his little brother out anywhere for a while. They picked a spot in the park to sit down that was close enough to where TJ could see the playground where he let Zack play with the other children.

Meanwhile, the couple sat on their blanket on the grass. Ashley A. pointed out random males passing through the park, asking her boyfriend what he thought about them.

"How about him? The one walking the Siberian Husky?" She asked, pointing across the park.

"He's….handsome, but I personally don't like redheads," He said. "That's just me being picky."

"Oh, so you have a type," She said, biting into her PB&J sandwich. "What exactly is your type?"

"…I don't know! Why are you so curious? I'm with you!"

"Because I'm curious that's why," Said Ashley. "Go on. What do you look for in a man, Mr. Detweiler?"

"….Not sure. He has to be independent, that's a must. No clingy guys. Or girls. Has to have his own thing going on. Strong too. Not stronger than me, but more like equally strong. Like if we got into a fight, it would always be a tie. Smart, only a couple inches shorter or taller than me, he's got to be someone I could just hang-out with and relax and doesn't have a stick up his ass. And, he has to able to set me straight when I get a little crazy. I'm not asking for a lot am I?"
"You're not asking for anything, because you're already with me." She joked. "No, I don't think that's a lot. Ever been with a guy like that?"

"That depends on what you mean by 'been with.'"

"I mean have you ever dated a guy like that?"

"No, but…..I might've slept with a guy like that a couple times. Nice guy, great friend. Kind of quiet and keeps to himself, but I liked that too. So tell me, what's your type?"

"I always fall for bad boys, you know that, don't you?"

"Yep," He said with a goofy grin.

"I want them to treat me nice, but it's like the whole bad boy thing comes with being a complete jerk. Except you."

"Maybe you should find another type. A nice guy."

"Yeah, but nice guys don't have a backbone….I love that they treat girls with respect and don't talk shit about them, it's sweet and that's how guys should treat girls. At least the good girls, not the manipulative, bitchy, cruel, disrespecting girls. There's just something that bad boys have that good one's don't. The thrill of 'changing' the bad boys is what I think it is. It's the whole, 'he's a jerk, but I'm going to be so important to him that he'll change for me,' when it should be 'I know that I'm important enough that I don't deserve the way he treats me and I deserve much better.' Girls want a nice guy, but they want to mold him from a bad boy, and that's not possible, not at this age, and probably not ever."

"….You need to give that speech to every single female out there," TJ said rubbing the back of his head. "You made so much sense just then."

"Thanks, but they'll go back to the bad boys, and learn their lesson the hard way," She sighed. "You're a nice guy."

"But you only wanted to date me in the first placed because I was bad."

"And now you've changed. Though you did give me and everyone else a scare with what you did on Monday," She mumbled.

"It was April Fools day! What did you expect? It's my favorite holiday and I was celebrating accordingly. I didn't even get in trouble."

"All you did was give everyone who went to Third Street with you a heart attack….."

"I'm sorry. I am, really. Do you forgive me?"

"….Yeah, I forgive you. I can't stay mad at a face full of freckles," Ashley said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Have you thought about what you want to do with the baby?" He asked. "Are we sticking to an open adoption?" She nodded.

"It's best for the baby. We're not ready for one," She said. "At least with the open adoption we'll see how he or she grows up. I told my parents and we're going to start looking for family's that want to adopt and you're coming, too. I had to convince my dad to let you near me and to get rid of his shotgun while you're over. 10 am next Saturday, okay?"

"Okay. Hope they're good families out there. We need to be picky as hell when choosing one….."

"TJ," Zack shouted as he ran towards the couple. "Can I have some ice cream?"

"Sure, but I don't have any ice cream," Said TJ.

"Ice cream truck," Zack said, pointing to a white truck with colorful pictures and playing music.

"I didn't see that….okay, ice cream," He said, getting onto his feet. "Want anything, Ashley?"

"A Mr. Fudgy Bar, please," She asked.

"No problem. Let's go Zack," TJ said. He lifted his brother up and onto his shoulders. HE walked over to the ice cream truck and to the back of the line of small children. When he reached the front of the line he bought a single scoop vanilla ice cone for Zack, a Mr. Fudgy Bar for Ashley, and a Rocket Bar for himself.

"Thank you," Zack said, licking his ice cream.

"You're welcome," he told him. When they two of them reached Ashley, they sat back down and TJ handed her the ice cream. "You were lucky. The ice cream man said that was the last one."

"I love these," Ashley said, opening the wrapper. "Remind me to by a case load of these things."

"Having cravings already?"

"You bet. I ate ice cream and pickles yesterday. It tastes better than you think," She laughed. "It's weird. Women in my family usually have mild pregnancies with little problems. I don't remember my mom eating weird food when she was pregnant with my sister or my aunt when she was having twins. I could use those abilities. But I haven't gotten morning sickness yet, and I'm not looking forwards to it."

"Your dad is going to kill me if I ask to move in so I can help take care of you when it gets hard for you to move around much," Said TJ.

"He'll let you move in as long as you have a job to help pay the medical bills," Said Ashley. "It came up a couple days ago when we were talking. He said, and these are his words now, might want to cover Zack's ears."

"Nah, he's knocked out. Deep sleeper," He said looking down at Zack who was now asleep and whose head lied on TJ's lap.

"Okay, my dad said 'the only way that horny bastard is setting foot in his house is if he has a job. He's not living under MY roof for free after getting MY daughter pregnant.' That's as far as I managed to get with him that day. My mom's more open to the idea 'cause she wants you to be there on hand to take care of me. You might want to play it safe and get a job…."

"I'm looking, I really am, but no one is hiring in this economy," He said. "They're hiring a couple towns over, but can't get there unless I have a car, and I can't afford a car unless I have a job. It's a vicious cycle of unproductivity. I'll tell you as soon as I get a job, I promise."

~*~TJ's POV~*~

I walked Ashley home; I don't have a car to drive her there. It's not hot out yet. It's the perfect weather that only lasts for a couple of days each season. I carried Zack as we walked. He fell asleep right after eating his ice cream. I guess that's better than a massive sugar high then crash. Every now and then he'll stir and snuggle deeper into my shoulder, but won't wake up.

"KILL HIM."

"No, Alex. I'm not hurting Zack. Give up."

"SNAP HIS NECK. It's easy to snap a three year olds neck, and this one is sleeping."

'I wish I could snap your neck,' TJ thought. 'What the hell do you have against my brother, huh? What did he ever do to you?'

"He's only here because your parents wanted to replace you, don't you forget that. He's your replacement, a substitute, the son they really wanted that you couldn't be. They didn't even bother to tell you about his existence. Why do you think they waited this long? Why do you think they never visited? They were giving all their love and affection towards him, because he's more important to them. This little fucker is why your parents didn't visit you in juvie, or in the hospital when you tried to kill yourself."

'Don't talk about him like that! You don't anything about him or my parents, so shut your mouth!'

"You have those questions though, right? Why would they have him when they already have two children? They weren't exactly young when they had him, so why'd they bother themselves with another child? Because they wanted to try again with a new son, and not the failure behind bars."

'I don't know why they chose to have him, but that doesn't matter. He's here now, am I'm taking care of him. That's what matters.' I then felt something poking his shoulder.

"TJ a car is following us," Zack said drowsily. I turned around and saw a small black car slowly following them. It took a moment, but he recognized it as JoJo's. I stopped and faced the car, and it stopped and parked in front of the brothers. The passenger's window rolled down, showing JoJo sitting in the driver's seat. Hmm, haven't seen him in a while.

"What's goin' on, Freckles?"

"Nothing much, just going home," I said. "Are you stalking me in your car?"

"No. I was goin' over to your house and I saw you walkin'. Want a ride?" JoJo offered.

"Yeah, thanks." First, I opened the back down and helped Zack get in, fastening his seat belt. I got in the front passenger seat and JoJo started driving again. "So what are you doing here? I haven't seen you or the others in weeks…."

"I want my rabbits, Freckles," JoJo half threatened.

"They're not ready yet. They're only a month old. They have to be able to eat only pellets and hay, and that won't happen for another month or so. I'm not holding them hostage. I'm taking good care of them. They have their own personalities, too. Your two, Falafel and Paprika, are complete opposites. Falafel is chill, she's the only one that stays put while the others try to escape. Paprika takes the first chance she has to escape every time. Catching her is no problem, though; just rub your hand in something sweet smelling and she'll hop to you." I paused for a second to look in the back seat. Zack had fallen asleep.

"That's nice, but came for more important things. Is your brother sleepin'?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Listen, 'cause this is so important that I do not have time to repeat myself," JoJo said, his tone suddenly turning serious. I had only heard that tone once before in juvie, when that ass Tommy Gun forced me to work for him, and JoJo had gotten mad at me for it. "You need to keep a close eye out for Tommy Gun. This bastard got out on parole, and that only proves how fucked up the system is. I'm telling you this because of the little man in the backseat. Keep your brother out of sight of Tommy Gun. I don't think I need to tell you why. I don't know if he's looking for you, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right?"

"Right." The two of us spent the rest of the ride in silence. After JoJo pulled up to my house and parked, I picked up and carried a still sleeping Zack. "You coming in?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on," JoJo said, getting out of his car. "I was lookin' for my phone. What are we doin' today, Freckles?"

"When I get inside, I'm letting the bunnies out for exercise. Zack should wake up in a half hour or so, and he'll want to play with Thing One and Thing Two. You're welcome to stay as long as you want. I don't have much to do today. I took my girlfriend out for a picnic right before you showed up."

"Oh shit, you got a girlfriend?" I nodded.

"We've been dating for….three months now. And now she's pregnant, but we're going to take care of it."

"Didn't all the self-selling teach you anything about protection? I want to know how you're going to take care of this."

"I'll tell you inside, after I put Zack down."

"HEY FRECKLES!"

…

That voice…..

I know it from somewhere..

….

Tommy Gun?

I had to turn around to be sure, because I was praying that it was just my mind being asshole playing a sick trick on me. On the sidewalk in front of my house, in all is smugness, is Tommy Gun. Same slicked back hair, same cocky grin, new clothes, but it's him.

"JoJo," I whispered. I tone is most serious it has ever been in my short life. "Take Zack. Take him in his room; it's right across from mine. Somewhere on his floor is a purple teddy bear. Make sure he's sleeping with it. He'll wake up quick without it. Then go in my room, go into my closet, there's a box on the top shelf, and open it. There's something inside, and when you see it, you'll know what I want you to do from then, okay?" He nodded. I carefully gave Zack to him, and watched him carry my brother into my house. When the door closed and Zack was out of sight, I turned back around faced Tommy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I shouted at him. "How did you find me?"

"I have my ways," he said in a too calm voice. He took a few step forward and I clenched my fists, ready to fight him off he didn't leave on his own. "What's going on, Freckles? You stopped bleaching your hair…."

"Yeah, so?" I snapped.

"I liked it. You were cuter with the blonde. Shame you stopped…."

"What do you want, pervert? Why are you here?"

"I can't come and see my favorite Scrub?"

"No. Get the hell away from here! You're not wanted in this town!"

"Aww, Scrub, that hurts me. It really does," He said getting closer to me. "After all this time you don't miss me, too?"

"No I don't. Leave." He laughed.

"I came all this way to see my favorite Scrub and I'm not leaving until I get what I want," Said Tommy. He kept walking and only stopped when he was right in front of me. I got a close view of the smirk on his face.

Next thing I knew, his lips were pressed against mine and arm wrapped around my waist.

I didn't waste a second. I tried pushing and punching him off, but this guy is built like a brick house. I can't get him off of me. A minute passed before he broke off his kiss. Then he whispered in my ear….

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your brother?"

Those nine words gave me the strength I need to get him off of me. I landing a swift left hook on his jaw and he landed flat on his ass. I was so full of pure rage I was shaking and I clenched my fist so tightly I feel blood trickling from where my nail were piercing my skin, and I could hear my heart beating in my ears. Whatever rationale I had flew out the window as I jumped on him and started punching him over and over, ignoring the growing pain in my fists. I only aimed for his face. I needed to wipe that smug grin off his face. I don't know when, but blood started to flow from his face. I couldn't stop myself. He wasn't going to get away for suggesting what he did. If this kills him, I wouldn't regret it.

Someone pulled me off of him, but I was twisting to get out of whoevers grasp it was to keep beating him. I got free, and continued to beat that sick pervert into the pavement.

"TJ STOP!" I paused long enough to look around. Stand around were Spinelli and the others. They must've been the ones that tried to pull me off. I looked down. In one tight fist was the collar of Tommy's shirt. My other fist was up in the air, ready to land on his jaw like the many before. Both of them were dripping with blood.

Taking slow deep breaths, I go onto my feet and let go of his shirt. Tommy coughed and spit out blood as he got on to his feet. Through the blood, he grinned. I lost it again and attacked him, throwing punches. Vince and Mikey pulled me off of him. When I saw that grin returning to his face I could barely stop the rage from building up again.

"Let me go," I said calmly. I pulled out of their grasp, and resisted the urge to keep beating Tommy.

"You okay?" Gus asked him. How dare he ask if he's okay?! No! He shouldn't be 'okay'. He should never be 'okay'. Perverts like him need to be hanged publicly!

"M'fine. I'll see you later, Freckles," Tommy Gun said. He winked at me before walking down the street with a bloody nose and mouth, and missing teeth.

I don't need this shit now!

"So now you o around beating the crap out of random people?" Vince asked. I could hear the anger, and some frustration in his voice.

"None of you know anything about this. All you know is what you saw when you got here. Mind your business," I said, walking back to my house. I have to wash the blood off my hands and change clothes. "Stay out of this."

"You can't stand there and tell us to stay out of this! Who's to say you won't beat the shit out of some unfortunate person at school?" Gus asked.

"Gus, I am begging you with every fiber of my being," I said. I didn't face them, or look their way. I stayed where I stood with my voice as calm as I could get it with rage flowing through my veins. "Stay out of this. You have no idea WHO that guy was, WHAT he has done to me, and what he's capable of doing now." With that, I went inside, slamming the door shut behind me.

Okay, first week of school is over. It's safe for me to say that updates will definitely not happen as often as they used to. I need to get into a routine, and it promises to be quite a busy one. I have six classes, three of which are English classes, one foreign language, a science, and political science. Busy load.

Sorry dear readers, it appears update will be sporatic. Life comes first. Until then,

Please review!