Thank you to talltwin18, SuperGuardianNinja, Fanthing1123 and guest for reviewing, I love hearing your feedback and ideas :)
Also I am sorry for the delay in updating, I've just been really but I'm not going to bore you with excuses, so I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Prompted by Aleksandria- Sandy never left the village and her brother comes to live with them. The family find out later on that he's been abusing Jason since he was little. Then Joe goes after him and Jason starts to relapse and feels guilty cos he feels like it was his fault he got abused and then all the brothers comfort Jason and try to show him it's not his fault. Robbie feels guilty too cos he feels like he should of protected his twin and realised what was going on.
TRIGGER: this chapter contains abuse, if you feel you may be affected please don't feel like you have to read
Chapter 35- look me in the eyes and tell me the truth:
"Right, I want all of you on your best behaviour" Sandy warned as she got the house ready for her brother arriving. She knew that he wasn't her boys favourite person in the world but he needed somewhere to stay and Sandy couldn't turn her brother down.
"Why's he coming to live with us anyways?" Robbie asked.
"Why can't he find somewhere else to live?" Freddie asked.
"We don't have enough room" Joe stated.
"How long does he take in the bathroom?" Ziggy asked.
"Enough!" Sandy shouted, not noticing the way Jason flinched when she raised her voice. Taking a deep breath, Sandy began. "He's coming to live with us because he has a new job and hasn't had a chance to get housing sorted. I'm doing him a favour because he's my brother, I'm sure you lot would do the same."
The four brothers who had asked questions all muttered something that sounded like and agreement, except Jason still didn't say anything. This time Sandy noticed. "You alright Jase?" Sandy asked.
Jason looked up at his Mum, realising that she was waiting for an answer. "Yeah, I'm fine" Jason replied, swallowing the lump in his throat. He didn't want to cause a scene; there was no point. His was uncle was staying whether he liked it or not.
"Jase, you sure you're alright?" Joe asked, taking in the pale appearance of his youngest brother. "Yeah" Jason replied lightly before leaving to go upstairs. The brothers frowned at each other, thinking Jason might just be having an off day.
Later that afternoon Sandy's brother, Graham, arrived. "Graham, how have you been?" Sandy asked as she greeted her brother at the door. "I've been good Sandy" Graham replied as he was lead into the living room.
"Hello boys" Graham said as he greeted the Roscoe boys. Well not all of them. "Where's young Jason?" Graham asked. "He's upstairs I think" Sandy replied as she walked back into the room with two cups of tea.
"Oh" was all Graham said as he took the offered cup of tea and sat down. "I've gotta get out to the garage; I'll give Jason a shout as well" Joe said as he stood up from the sofa. He made his way upstairs and knocked on Jason's door.
"Jase? Jase you in here?" Joe asked as he waited for Jason to reply. Except Jason didn't reply and Joe frowned. He opened the door and walked into an empty room. Sighing, he walked back our the room, closed the door and went downstairs.
"Where's Jase?" Freddie asked as Joe walked back into the living room to grab his keys. "He's not upstairs" Joe said. Robbie frowned, Jason has been acting weird all day. "If you see him Joe, tell him to come home" Sandy said as Joe left the house getting a shout as a response.
"Not like Jason to miss his uncle being here" Graham said as he took another sip of his tea. Robbie glared at his uncle, something wasn't right and he could feel it. He looked over at Freddie and could see that his brother was in the middle of thinking about something.
Jason strolled down the path, wanting to make his walk as long as possible. He felt sick. Sick to his stomach. He'd last seen his uncle three years ago when he was 18; even thinking about it made him shiver.
He hadn't told his family, mainly because he didn't know what to say and they would almost certainly just laugh at him. Poor Jason, not strong enough to fight off his uncle; call yourself a Roscoe.
Tears brimmed Jason's eyes as he shook his head to get rid of the thought; that was the last thing he needed. He realised that he'd wondered back into the village and sat down on a bench. He enjoyed the peace, knowing that as soon as he got home it would be a different story.
"So where will I be sleeping tonight?" Graham asked as he, Sandy, Freddie, Ziggy and Robbie were all still sitting in the living room. "Well Freddie and Ziggy have moved in for this week so you'll be staying in Freddie's room" Sandy explained.
Graham nodded. "I was expecting Jason to move for his uncle" he remarked. "Me and Jase already share a room" Robbie shot out quickly, glaring at his uncle. The man made his skin crawl. "Okay then" Graham replied. "Right then, who wants my famous beef bourguignon?" Sandy asked, already heading off in the direction. "Famous for all the wrong reasons" Freddie muttered, causing Robbie and Ziggy to snicker.
"Say something Freddie?" Sandy asked, not sounding amused. "Your cooking's lovely Mum" Ziggy said. Sandy shot three of her boys a disapproved look. "I'm sure your cooking is wonderful Sandy" Graham said smiling. Sandy smiled back before turning to look at Robbie. "And you, ring Jason and tell him to come home."
It wasn't until Jason felt his phone vibrate in his pocket that he was brought our his thoughts. He took it out of his pocket and checked it realising what time it was. It was 6:30pm and Jason had left the house two and a half hours ago; next wonder his family were worried.
He quickly scrolled through his logs to see who had called him. He had three missed calls from Robbie and two from his Mum. Deciding not to call them back, he stuffed his phone back in his pocket and stood up to walk home.
20 minutes later Jason arrived home. "Where have you been?" Sandy asked. "Out" Jason replied before walking into the living room and sitting down next to Robbie. "Nice of you to join us, Jason" Graham greeted.
Jason tensed, his breath hitching in his throat. What was he supposed to say? He was in a crowded room and everyone was expecting him to answer. "Hello uncle Graham" Jason replied, finally managing to gather his words.
Robbie glanced over at Jason next to him and frowned. Jason tensed when his uncle spoke to him; that wasn't right. He looked over at Freddie who was also eyeing Jason suspiciously. Robbie was worried, Jason never acted like this around their family; in fact it was normally always Robbie who avoided the family.
"Tea up!' Sandy shouted from the kitchen, stopping Robbie's train of thought. The men in the living room all stood up to go through to the dining room; Graham walking close behind Jason. As they arrived in dining room, Graham sat down next to Jason on purpose meaning Robbie had to sit somewhere else.
As the meal progressed Jason began to feel increasingly uncomfortable. He already didn't feel like eating and now he had his uncle looming over his shoulder. He could feel Graham's gaze watching every move he made.
He looked around and saw that his brothers, bar Joe who was still working at the garage, forcing down their Mum's tea. He didn't dare look over his shoulder to see if his uncle was forcing down his food.
"That was lovely Sandy" Graham concluded as he finished his tea. "Thank you Graham, I always save it for special occasions" Sandy said. "I'm sure your boys think it's lovely too" Graham stated.
Jason could feel Graham's gaze burning holes in his body. Jason looked down at his plate; he'd eaten half of it and he felt sick to his stomach, but he knew that wasn't really his Mum's cooking.
Putting his knife and fork down, Jason cleared his throat. "I don't feel well, I'm gonna go upstairs and lie down" Jason stated as he stood up from his chair and taking his plate over to bin and scraping it before putting it next to the sink.
"Are you sure Jase? Do you want some paracetamol?" Sandy asked her youngest who had been acting weird all day. "No, I'm just going to lie down" Jason said, avoiding anyone's gaze as he left the room and continued upstairs.
"What's going on with him?" Sandy asked her three remaining son's. Except, none of them for a chance to answer because Joe walked in. "I'm home!" Came the shout from the front door. The sound of footsteps travelled through the house before Joe sat down and a plate of beef bourguignon was put down in front of him.
"Where's Jason?" Joe as he chewed on a mouthful. "Said he felt ill so he went upstairs" Ziggy explained. "Threw half his dinner in the bin" Graham said, truly irritated by that. Joe frowned when Graham said that, his mind instantly darting back to when Jason was battling BDD. "I'll talk to him later" Joe said.
Jason hurriedly made his way upstairs and into his room. He locked the door and flopped down on his bed, burying his face in his pillow. He felt so ill. Everything that had happened came flooding back to him and he needed couldn't stop the tears.
He ran his hand over his arm, remembering the burn marks and bruises that used to appear mainly everything birthday and Christmas. He used to dread birthdays and Christmas; no kid should do that.
He ran his hand over his torso, he could still feel the battered skin that used to litter his stomach and chest. His continued crying quietly, asking himself why him; why did he have to go through this. He obviously wasn't strong enough.
Six hours later Robbie made his way upstairs fully intending on crashing down to sleep. Except when he went to open the door, he couldn't. "Jase?" Robbie questioned knocking on the door.
Jason tossed and turned in his sleep; he'd managed to asleep two hours ago after crying himself to sleep. Although, his sleep wasn't an easy sleep. He kept on replaying what had happened when he was five.
A young Jason and Robbie ran around the garden at their grandparents house; making a lot of noise. "Jason, Robbie can you keep it down. I don't want the neighbours complaining" Graham said as he appeared at the back door.
"Sorry uncle Graham" Robbie said as Jason continued to laugh. "Jason?" Graham questioned, not impressed with this young boy's manners. "Yeah, I'm sorry" Jason said, finally having caught his breath.
Graham nodded before closing the back door and walking back through to the living room, intent on teaching Jason a lesson later.
It was just before Jason went to bed and was he sat down on the bed that he and Robbie shared when at their grandparents. That's when Graham walked in. "Where's Robbie, Jason?" Graham asked. "He's in the bath, I've already had mine" Jason replied.
"Okay then" Graham said taking Jason by the arm and squeezing it tightly. "Owwwww" Jason whined. "Shush" Graham said, the boy becoming silent. "You do not ignore your elders" Graham hissed, his grip on young Jason's arm tightening.
"I'm s-sorry" Jason stammered. "Good" Graham said dropping Jason's arm and leaving the room. Five year old Jason sat there on the bed, wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall.
He ran his hand over his arm, whimpering as his hand touched the skin. It hurt! Jason didn't know what he'd done to Uncle Graham but whatever it was he was never going to do it again.
"You alright Jason?" Robbie asked he walked in the bedroom dressed in his pyjamas. Jason nodded at his twin brother. "Jase?" Robbie questioned as Jason hugged him.
"Jase?"
"Jase! Open this door" Robbie shouted.
Jason's eyes snapped open, his breathing quick and sweat covering his body. "Jase!" He heard Robbie shout from the other side of his door. Of course, he'd locked the door. He staggered out of bed, frowning when he realised he was still wearing his clothes.
He went over to the door and unlocked it, opening the door for Robbie. "Jase- what the hell!" Robbie shouted. Robbie walked into the room, shut the door and took sight of his twin brother. His hair was a mess, he was covered in sweat and seemed to have fallen asleep in his clothes.
"What happened?" Robbie asked calmly. "Nothing" Jason answered, his heart beating wildly. "This doesn't look like nothing" Robbie replied. "Did you have a nightmare?" Robbie asked. Jason nodded; he couldn't find the words to explain. "I'm just gonna go back to bed" Jason said and crashed down on his bed before Robbie could stop him.
The next day was pretty much the same as the one before. Robbie was constantly watching Jason and he'd told Freddie what had happened. Joe was still suspicious but Robbie knew that telling him would only lead to confrontation.
"Jase, where you off to?" Ziggy asked as he came downstairs and found Jason at the front door. "I'm just going for some fresh air, need to get out of his madhouse" Jason said smiling. Ziggy nodded as Jason went out the door, not thinking anything of it.
"Who was that?" Robbie asked as he walked out of kitchen, Graham following him. "Just Jason" Ziggy replied walking into the living room. "Jason's gone out when his uncle is here, shocking" Graham mocked playfully as he walked back into the kitchen; Robbie scowled.
Three hours later and Jason still hadn't returned; Graham decided to go and find him. " I'm going for a walk, get some fresh air" Graham announced as he finished his conversation with Sandy.
It didn't take Graham long to find Jason and when he did, Graham knew exactly what he going to do. "You keep running away from me" Graham said as he arrived at the folley. Graham chuckled as Jason looked startled and quickly stood up.
"Relax Jason, it's not like your brothers can save you now" Graham said. Jason started to walk backwards as Graham began to approach him. "You've been ignoring me, Jason" Graham said as walked towards Jason, smiling when he realised Jason would end up backed up against a wall.
"I haven't" Jason choked out, feeling his whole body tremble. "Yes. You. Have" out as he moved closer to Jason and put a hand on his shoulder. "And now you're going to pay."
Graham grabbed the bag of Jason neck, pushing down on the pressure point. He then swung his left hand back and it collided with Jason's torso. Jason screamed our in pain. "Man up Jason, we've only just started."
15 agonising minutes later Graham finished. He let go of Jason and watched as he nephew slumped again the wall. "Let this this be a starter for what will come of you don't spend time when with me" Graham hissed. "I'm s-sorry" Jason whispered, feeling exactly like that small five year old.
"Oh you will be" Graham whispered before walking away, leaving Jason gasping for air, slumped against the wall.
6 hours later
"Robbie where's your brother?" Sandy asked as yet again Jason was missing. "I don't know, have you tried ringing him?" Robbie asked. "I have and it just goes straight to voicemail" Sandy said. "You didn't see him when you went did you?" Joe asked Graham. "No I didn't" Graham replied. "I'll ring Freddie, see if Freddie's seen him" Joe said, walking out the room to go and find his phone.
A few moments later Joe walked back into the room. "Freddie hasn't seen him so I was going to go and look for him" Joe stated. "I'll come" Robbie exclaimed, quickly standing up from the sofa to join Joe.
"Okay but you haven't found him in two hours, come home" Sandy instructed sternly. Joe and Robbie both nodded before walking out the door. "Does Jason normally wonder off like this?" Graham asked. "No he doesn't" Sandy said suspiciously.
Jason had only started to wonder off like this yesterday; yesterday when Graham came. Jason had been acting differently during the day and at tea time he didn't eat that much. Sandy frowned, Jason was bottling something up and she was going to find out what.
"Where do you think he'll be?" Robbie asked as he and Joe made their way through the village. "I have no idea" Joe confessed, running a hand through his hair. "Well why don't we start with the city walls and make our way through" Robbie suggested and Joe agreed.
As they were walking, Robbie remembered what had happened last night. He wanted to mention it to Joe but he didn't know how. "What do you think wrong's with Jason?" Robbie asked. "What do you mean?" Joe asked frowning.
"He's just been acting weird" Robbie said. "Oh yeah" Joe said, sensing that Robbie was hiding something. Robbie knew this was his chance. "Last night Jason had a nightmare" Robbie admitted.
Joe stopped walking and turned the face Robbie. "What was it about?" Robbie sighed. "He didn't say." Joe frowned. "Last night when I went upstairs to bed, the door was locked. As knocked on it calling Jason's name but he didn't open it. Five minutes later he did; he was covered in sweat, his breathing was quick and he had fell asleep in the clothes he was wearing yesterday" Robbie explained.
Joe sighed. Why couldn't Jason just talk to them! "Right come on we need to find him" Joe said as he and Robbie set off, walking that bit faster.9
1 hour later
"Right this is the last place we look" Joe said as he and Robbie arrived at the folley. Robbie nodded, knowing protesting and arguing wasn't going to help. Although before Robbie or Joe could say anything, they walked down the steps and found Jason.
Their younger brother was lying on the floor, slumped up against the wall. His breathing was raspy and he was groaning. A hand was clutching his stomach and his neck was bright red.
"Jase what happened?" Joe exclaimed as he and ran over to Jason. "Jase, who did this to you?" Robbie asked as Joe checked Jason over. "We need to get him home" Joe told Robbie. Robbie nodded and watched as Joe carefully picked up Jason, wincing when Jason let out a painful groan.
"It's alright Jase" Joe soothed as tears started to fall from the young Roscoe's eyes. Jason clung onto Joe's t-shirt as he was carried home, keeping his eyes closed. Robbie watched as his heart broke at the sight of his twin brother. Why hadn't he stopped this!
"Oi, stop beating yourself up over this" Joe said as if he could read Robbie's thoughts. Robbie sighed but did as Joe said.
Five minutes later the three arrived home. "Oh my word! What happened?" Sandy asked as she made space on one of the sofas for Jason to lie down. Graham sat on the other sofa watching the situation unfold.
As Joe went to put Jason down on the sofa, the young Roscoe clung onto him tighter and whimpered. "Jason, let Joe put you down on the sofa" Sandy said, she needed to check him over and see if he needed to go to hospital.
"Yes Jason, let your brother put you down, you're not a baby" Graham said harshly, causing Robbie, Joe and Sandy to frown. Jason sighed but let Joe put him down on the sofa, unfortunately this meant he was now facing his attacker.
"Jase, who did this to you?" Joe asked as he crouched down so he was level with Jason. Jason didn't answer but his eyes were drawn to Graham who was looking at him expectantly. Jason tired to take deep breaths, he tried to calm his racing heart and he tried to speak but nothing came out.
Robbie, now becoming increasingly worried about Jason, followed his twin brother's eyeliner. He was looking at Graham. Then the penny dropped. "You little rat!" Robbie snarled as he walked over to where Graham was sitting and punched him clean in the face.
Gasps could be heard all around the room. "What the shell are you thinking Robert!" Sandy yelled as she watched Robbie pinch Graham. "Woah!" Freddie shouted as he lunged forwards and grabbed Robbie, stopping him from hitting Graham again. This is not what he and Ziggy expected to come home to.
"It was him!" Robbie shouted as he struggled in Freddie's arms. "It was him!"
The whole family looked at each other before Joe turned back to Jason. "Jason did he do it?" Joe asked. Jason couldn't answer; he couldn't even speak. He just nodded and let the tears fall down his face.
Joe turned round and faced Graham. His eyes burning a hole a into his uncle's face. "Get. Out" Joe said, almost too calmly. Graham smirked and stood up, shooting a glare at Jason before leaving the house.
"Are you not gonna go after him!" Freddie exclaimed, shocked at how calm Joe was. The only reason he hadn't gone after Graham was because he had Robbie to keep under control. "Of course I am! I was just letting him get a head start" Joe said as he stood up and walked out.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Sandy shouted as the door slammed but she knew her plea had fell on deaf ears.
The next hour at the Roscoe was emotional for everyone. Jason explained everything. The times Graham beat him, the times he burned him with a hot teaspoon, the names he called Jason and the times he threw Jason's dinner away.
Sandy couldn't believe her ears. This had on for years and she'd had no idea. Jason was only five. Five! He was her youngest and for the past 19 years her youngest had been terrified every time they saw their 'uncle'.
When Jason had finished telling them everything, he was exhausted. "Right why don't I order us a takeaway? Pizza do?" Sandy suggested as she received nods from around the room. She left the room and grabbed the phone, dialling the number as Joe walked through the door.
"It's all taken care of" Joe said. "Good" Sandy said as she put the phone to her ear and ordered the pizzas.
By the time the pizzas came, Jason had lost his appetite completely. Graham was right, he was weak and he couldn't even fight. He just stood there and let Graham beat him up. How weak could someone be?
"Jase? You not gonna eat that?" Freddie asked, being really cautious around Jason. "Yeah, I'm just not really hungry" Jason lied, but he had to get in shape. "You sure?" Joe asked. "Yes!" Jason said, raising his voice.
"I'm going to bed" Jason said as he stood up, staggering as he did so. "I'll help you" Robbie said as he gently helped Jason out the room and upstairs to their room. He helped Jason sit down on the bed and Robbie sat down next to him.
"Jason look at me" Robbie said. He waited a few moments. "Jase, look at me" Robbie said gently. Jason turned his head and looked his brother in the eyes. "This is not you fault" Robbie said firmly and watched as Jason's eyes filled with tears.
"Oh Jase" Robbie whispered as he pulled Jason in for a hug. Jason sobbed against Robbie's hoodie, and Robbie comforted him. "It's alright" Robbie whispered, more for his own comfort than Jason's.
As Robbie held his sobbing brother, he was mentally kicking himself. Why hadn't he noticed this? How blind was he! His brother; his twin brother was hurting and he didn't even notice. He would never forgive himself.
The next few days we're hard, but the Roscoes were tough enough to get through. The four oldest brothers made a pact. A pact that they were always going to look out for Jason and be aware of what was going on around Jason.
They'd also manages to reassure Jason that it wasn't his fault so in the Roscoe household, everything was back to normal.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed, please review and let me know what think and if you have any suggestions feel free to leave them :)
Next chapter prompted by guest- what happened when Freddie and Joe ran Rick out of town when the twins were little